Warrior PvE guide
Things Warriors Want Non-Warriors to Know * Don't run away from us if you have aggro. * Let the warrior do the initial pulling unless you are using a hunter to create the Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety. It's easier to hold the aggro when you start with it, than trying to pull it off someone. Sure mages have some amazing ranged spells, as do many others, while the warrior's ranged ability is mediocre at best. If a mage opens up on a mob by doing a couple thousand damage, its hard for a warrior to overcome the hatred that creates in the mob. In the event it appears that the best tactic would be to have someone else pull, use a low damage low hate spell. Whatever you have that does the least damage is good. * Wait to start fighting mobs until the warrior has their attention with a shout and swing or two. Stunning or immobilizing an enemy while we're trying to drag them all into a nice spot can easily lead to us missing them, and starting to unload damage before we've hit them often means they'll start running at you. * If we're not in melee range, we're not doing damage, we're not generating rage, and most important of all, we're not getting aggro. Please do whatever it takes to force the mobs into close combat. Never think it's acceptable to trade fire from across the room. Mages can use Counterspell to stop a mob from casting. Normally they only have one school, so after the interrupt they will run into melee range. Be careful though as Counterspell generates a good amount of threat. * If we are holding aggro, healers, your first priority is to keep us healthy. When the tank dies, the party dies. Tell us if you are getting Out of Mana and the end of the fight is not yet in sight. Then we can use abilities like shield wall to stay alive. Often we are so busy with tanking we forget to mind our health. * We can tank without a shield. It does require us to have better gear than the average warrior at that level or to only do it on the easier section of the instance, but it can make things quicker and lets us hold aggro better (assuming we're still in Defensive Stance). If you're getting bored healing, let your tank know--it can make clearing out the trash mobs a faster and more painless process. Some class-specific notes-- Paladins - Make good use of your auras. If we're dying, Resistance or Devotion Auras are nice, but if we're losing aggro, Retribution Aura might be nicer. Also, we know Blessing of Kings is in your Protection tree, but it's simply amazing if you have it. Hunters - We know you're good at pulling, but it's a lot simpler to let us do it in most situations. Offer to pull in dangerous situations where there's a big chance for problems (lots of or fast moving patrols, many close enemies) but please don't be too offended if we'd rather do it ourself. If you really want to pull and you have the misdirection spell offer a misdirection pull as that will dump all aggro on us. Druids - Thorns is nice, please don't forget to cast it on us. Also, even if you aren't the healer, if you aren't the tank please resist the temptation to turn into a bear and use Growl/Maul on everything. It makes it much more difficult to hold onto the mobs, since you have naturally increased threat in that form. Rogues - If you use Expose Armor, we can't use Sunder Armor on that target. If we can't use Sunder Armor, we have a hard time holding aggro. If we have a hard time holding aggro, the mob has a tendency to turn around and squish you. Also, be aware that stunning a mob means it isn't hitting us, and not giving us any rage. While it won't be a danger to anyone, there's a good chance that it'll turn to you when the stun wears off. And please resist the urge to stun mobs during the pull it makes tanking a lot harder for us. Mages - Please don't blink away when you pull aggro. We can't move that fast, and it tends to make it difficult to get a hold of all the mobs again. If possible, don't rely on a macro that says your target's name when you polymorph. We don't usually have time to read names in 1.5 seconds, and sometimes there's more than one of them anyway. Instead, teach your tank what Detect Magic looks like and cast it on a mob before sheeping it. Visual clues are a much bigger help. Raid Icons are useful to i.e. Moon gets polymorphed. Warlocks - When in doubt, please bring your Imp. Blood Pact is a really awesome buff, giving healers more time between us being at full health and us being dead. At the same time though, don't be afraid to pull out a Voidwalker, Succubus, or Felhunter if you think their skills will be useful in dealing with the mobs. Also, we'd like a healthstone if you've got shards to spare. Priests - Don't use Power Word: Shield on us more than necessary. Yes, it's a useful tool to save us from death, and it's convenient to just keep shields up while dealing with easier enemies. However, it severely cuts down your typical tank's rage generation, making it very frustrating to try to hold aggro. However please do use Power Word: Shield before a boss fight as the boss will hit hard enough to knock down the shield fast but you don't have to heal us for the first few seconds giving us the chance to build some solid aggro so you won't pull the mob off us with a critical heal. =Things Non-Warriors want Warriors to know= * The first thing that every warrior in an instance group needs to accept is this: you are not there to do damage. Any smart group would rather you do zero damage but keep aggro on you at all times than to try to keep your DPS up and let the mage or healer get beat on. It is possible (even easy) to hold the attention of 2-4 mobs at once, but not while you are trying to do damage to the enemy. * Always have Sunder Armor on your action bar. Regardless of your preferences, you have considerably more armor than most casters have, and Healers will have a much easier time healing if only you are taking damage. * If you're tanking, be in Defensive Stance for most of the battle, unless you are using Tactical Mastery to switch stances to use special abilities. Also, if you have Tactical Mastery, in some pulls, charging the mob then switching right to Defensive Stance can be a very effective way to generate your initial rage, which is the hardest part of the battle. * There are several skills that a warrior needs to have in an instance group to survive. The first of these is aggro generation. There are three skills that do this best, Shield Bash, Revenge (much more efficient with talents), and Sunder Armor. These three skills are what you use to keep aggro on yourself. When this fails, Taunt is your best friend, and will buy you a few seconds to regain aggro (with Shield Bash or Sunder Armor). * Another skill that is rather simple yet many warriors do not use, is "tap" aggroing. When there is a pull of multiple mobs, they will have no one on their aggro list, and run to attack the nearest party member. An easy way to stop this is to use Demoralizing Shout to gain a very small amount of aggro on all the mobs around you instantly. While the mobs will still run for your healer when they start healing you, it gives you time to use skills like Whirlwind, Sunder Armor, Shield Bash, and Revenge to gain a stronger hold on aggro. A good warrior can pull 4 mobs and never let one leave him. A poor warrior focuses on 1 and lets his group deal with the rest. * Remember that it is your job to protect the rest of your group. However, when bad things happen (and they always do), it is important to know which party members need saving first: # Main Healer - Always, without fail, protect your healer above all else. # Cloth Wearers - They die fast and need attention before their mana is depleted. # Druids/Shamans/Rogues/Hunters - Have Leather Armor or better, and either heals or ways to lessen their own aggro. Can all off-tank in bad situations when the healer needs saving, but don't count on them to do your job for you. If the Druid or Shaman is main healer, get the mob off them first. # Paladins - Unless they're your main healer, Paladins are tanks themselves, and can off-tank an elite mob if needed. If they are main healer, help them first. * While it can be argued that you are perfectly capable of pulling, you are not going to be the best puller in every situation. A great resource on knowing when you are the puller is The Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety. Basically, a Hunter or even a Rogue can attempt a pull while the rest of the party is standing out of aggro range, then if it works they will be able to hand aggro to the Warrior. If the pull goes bad, they can abort it or just die and be resurrected later. This can be a slow tactic and may even be impossible to pull off at the time (cramped space for example). *If you are the primary tank, use a shield. With a shield, in some cases you can get close to 3000 extra armor, a few more stats, a shield spike or enchantment, and + defense to add on to what you already have. * If you are tanking a mob near a shackle, sap, polymorph or otherwise incapacitated mob please consider pulling the active mobs away before using any AoE abilities like Thunder Clap. Also consider moving away so that other members of the group with AoE will not hit the crowd controlled mobs. * Do not become overly aggressive. Don't go rushing into battle whenever you see a mob. Let casters recover mana and allow for rebuffs. You can't last long if healers and damage dealers are tapped out and can't recover while in combat. * Healthstones and Healing Potions are in the game to be used, so use them! * Rogues will stun a mob to trigger the Assassination Armor set bonus. Good rogues will wait until you have a healthy amount of rage. Things Warriors want new Warriors to know * If there is no other warrior in our party, you need to tank. Get used to it. * Do not, I repeat, do not try to tank with a two-hand weapon or two one-hand weapons unless the healer(s) agree with it * Do not, I repeat, do not use charge to pull a group of mobs, unless you know that only that group of mobs is going to come. * When in doubt, pull with a ranged weapon. * If there are multiple warriors in a group, make sure that everyone knows who the Main Tank is and don't taunt a mob / boss off the Main Tank unless asked to. * If a mob start hitting the main healer and the Main Tank is busy or running after another mob start tanking it, the healer will be grateful and will often give you a heal or two. * If you taunt a mob of a healer while fighting with a two-hand weapon or two one-hand weapons and the Main Tank isn't picking it up take out your one-hander and shield en switch to Defensive Stance. Your healer will be very grateful and, if he has mana, will heal you. * Do not focus on one mob only look around you and make sure there are no other mobs hitting the group * Keep an eye on the status of the group and act on it. If the healer is Out of Mana do not start pulling. * Have faith in your group. Do not start yelling for heals or when a rogue pulls aggro on a almost dead mob. General tips Rogue PvE pull the aggro, if the rogue doesn't remember to get behind the mob, you go behind it (turning the mob around), maybe the rogue will figure it out and Backstab. If you notice that the rogue is wielding some weapon other than a dagger in his/her right hand, he won't be able to Backstab. However, even if the rogue is built off of the Combat tree and doesn't need to be behind the target to Backstab, maneuvering the mob so he is behind it will make him more effective, since mobs can't parry or block attacks from behind (mobs can still dodge). In short always try and keep the mob facing you (the warrior) and have its back to the rogues. Warrior When grouped with another Warrior, it is vital that the two of you agree who is to be 'Main Tank', and who is to be Secondary. Even if it's just the two of you alone in a big open field of wandering mobs, grinding for XP, it is still helpful to have these roles. In Instances, it is vital. Main Tank: Use Defensive Stance and a one-handed weapon + shield. Focus on high Threat specials, like Sunder Armor and Revenge, and Taunt as necessary. Secondary Use Battle Stance or Berserker Stance and dual wield or use a two-hander. Focus on low or no threat specials, such as Rend, Hamstring and the shouts. Be aware that you will generate much less rage, not being aggro. Use Bloodrage and Charge to compensate. See the 'As a Warrior' section of the Instance Grouping Guide for more details. Dual Tank: If you are paired with another Warrior and you cannot decide on who will be the Main Tank, you may also attempt to aggro a group of mobs or a single boss amongst both of you, splitting the amount of mobs a single tank must deal with, making the group stronger. It is suggested you use Defensive Stance for this. When the main group of mobs is done, the last remaining straggler can be "dual-aggroed" by both tanks, causing the mob to constantly turn around on whoever just used the higher-threat-inducing skill. This will cut the damage on each tank by half, and double the damage upon the mob. This is especially useful on Bosses, and can increase the aggro on the warriors and remove some responsibility a single tank must have to defend his/her group. Priest Any time you're grouped with a priest, keep the following in mind: - If you die, but you've eliminated and weakened enough enemies for the priest to be able to finish off the rest, the priest can simply resurrect you. - If the priest dies, but you finish off the enemies yourself, you're stuck waiting for the priest to run back from the graveyard before the group can continue adventuring. You may even have to start over, if you're in an instance dungeon, for example. Always, always protect the priest, even if he's an idiot. Especially if he's an idiot. Warlock The Warlock is yang to your tanking yin. If you do your job well, they can do their job really well. Their high DPS is achieved through damage over time (DoT) spells. The downside is that they generate a moderate amount of threat, so warlocks can't fire-and-forget unless someone is holding aggro for them. It's surprising the number of warriors who will whack away at one mob and do very little to hold on to the rest of the group until the you-know-what hits the fan and something starts to charge a cloth wearers. A level 50 Warlock can easily do 200-300 net DPS on three or four mobs by switching targets frequently and recasting DoTs. However, if the tank is not actively holding all three or four attacker's aggro, the Warlock would be foolish to try this tactic and will just sit there wanding the main target while you get hammered by three full strength mobs. It's much more effective for the Warlock to DoT all of the mobs while you keep aggro, so when the final boss is dead, the secondary mobs are already at 50% health. In some situations Fear can be a good crowd control ability, remember to pull the mob group back into the previously cleared room if this is going to be done. If the warlock decides to solo said mob Via fear and dots, Please don't go hit crazy on it. Direct damage has a higher chance of breaking fear then dot damage. Mage Do not attack the sheep. In addition, avoid area effect attacks like cleave and whirlwind while sheep are near. Do not slap down a rend on a creature the mage is trying to sheep. Avoid weapons and items with uncontrollable Area of Effect chances like Skullflame Shield, as they will randomly break sheep and other crowd control effects. In order to keep aggro away from a mage (especially pre-60) you both have to work at it. A mage has higher DPS than a warrior so naturally he'll pull the aggro unless you use your special aggro generating abilities. Sunder Armor works very well pre-60, even after it stacks 5 rimes KEEP using it, it still causes aggro even if the armor debuff isn't stacking (unless you have Devastate, which will refresh the sunder armor and cause additional threat and damage). Also make sure the mage actually gives you some time to get aggro. A skilled mage will always wait for you, but there's lots of mages who will just start using their biggest burst damage spells from the beginning. Druid In PvE, it's great to have a druid healer, but you need to manage the aggro because you might lose a mob from some of the higher damage druid spells. Be ready to pull any mobs that attack the druid so that he/she can focus on your HP, otherwise you might be waiting for your partner to get back from the graveyard. Note that around level 20 druids gain the ability to resurrect, so find out if your partner can perform this function and defend accordingly. Also, it is important to remember that while you may benefit from running from one mob to the next, your caster friends are going to need mana at some point. Hunter Realize that the hunter can create a Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety and you cannot. When there is a healer in the group that can res the hunter, let him pull without giving him crap about aggro management. In cases where there is no healer, the hunter might still be a better choice of pulling, as he is much less likely to die on a bad pull than you are, as he has ways to abort the pull, while you do not. In such cases, you need to recognize when his tactics fail and you need to step in. The hunter has ways of giving up aggro from a pull, so you should have no trouble taking the aggro from him. Just make sure he is using them. If paired in a duo with a hunter, make sure you (and the hunter) understand how his pet fits into the overall strategy. Generally, PvE characters will use pets like tanks, so they should be used to working with one. PvP hunters tend to have pets that deal damage which, combined with their taunts, can pull aggro off of you and lead the hunter to overestimate what a talented but merely human tank can do to keep aggro off of them. Poorly run PvP hunters tend to sprint around the battlefield, forcing you to take a beating if they've drawn more aggro than they can deal with instead of using the abilities they have that shed aggro. If your hunter's favorite pet is a bear or a scorpid, you'll likely feel right at home. If on the other hand her favorite pet is a cat or raptor, you may be in for some frustration before the evening's adventuring is done, unless the hunter remember to turn off the taunting ability. Paladin Working with a paladin comes down largely to whether or not the paladin is serving as the party's main healer , DPS, or the main tank. If the paladin is serving as the main healer, treat them the same as you'd treat a priest or druid - sure they can take hits better than those other two classes, but any mana they spends healing themselves is mana they can't spend healing you. Keeping the mobs focused on you also reduces the amount of aggro they will create with their healing spells, since they're only casting spells on one character (you) rather than two (you and themselves). It's a win/win. If the party has a priest or druid as the main healer, let the paladin deal with adds or mobs that shift their attention to the healers. Your job is to deal with the main batch of mobs - finish them off, then move to help the paladin clean up any stragglers. If the Paladin is protection spec. They have good Aggro gaining abilities for AoEing between Consecration and ret aura as well tossing out a heal upon themselves. If that is the case try and pick up a mob or two to help reduce the number hitting him and keep an eye out for any going after the main healer. In either case, you should be aware that Lay on Hands is one of the best aggro-magnets in the game; a high level paladin can heal thousands of hit points with this ability, drawing the hate of any mob that hasn't already been beaten to within an inch if its life. You'll need to work quickly to ensure that the paladin doesn't pay with their own life for saving yours. The rule of thumb for working with a Paladin is to not sweat it over them. They do have just as much health and armor as you do in most cases and can handle themselves appropriately. As Paladins make capable tanks on their own it is not necessary that you immediately freak and take aggro back. The only exception to this rule is when the Paladin is main healer, or an offhealer stepping in. Also, like a priest: if you go down but have eliminated enough mobs for the Paladin to survive, you'll be shortly resurrected. If the Paladin goes down, you're going to be waiting for him to come back from black-and-white land. Shaman Watch that the Shaman is avoiding the use of Frost Shock (unless he's kiting), as this generates extra threat. Windfury procs can also pull aggro, so be alert. Shamans are a hybrid class which wears mail and can heal. The main thing you are concerned with is totems which are stationary AoE Buffs, the ones you would like are - Strength of Earth Totem - Adds an amount of strength, handy for dealing more damage - Stoneskin Totem - Reduces the amount of melee damage from a mob before AC - Grace of Air Totem - Adds an amount of agility, handy for extra crit, dodge, armor and damage - Windfury Totem - Gives a 20% chance to gain 1 extra attacks with extra AP (Not to be confused with the Windfury buff shamans put on their own weapons, these grant *2* extra attacks) As they can only have one totem of each element up it is recommended you go for Windfury and Strength of Earth unless the Mob deals a lot of damage then maybe Stoneskin is a better choice. ''-Note from a Shaman: Strength of Earth is almost always the better choice due to the extra block value it will add to your shield. The only time Stoneskin is remotely useful is on non-elite AoE pulls. Also, Windfury and Grace of Air will assist in one of the two aspects of tanking. The 3% dodge afforded by Grace of Air will assist in damage mitigation, while the extra damage dealt by Windfury will augment your ability to generate threat. Choose based on what you're having more difficulty with.'' Shamans have no aggro-reducing abilities (unless they go down the resto tree, even then it only works when they're low on health) so if it is your primary healer make sure to be quick in defending them as healing will get interrupted. Category:Warriors